Noah joined our group recently. James could not make it this session. We decided to a one-on-one session, introducing Noah’s character Connie Bleak (sheet is attached). Connie got out of the prison the day after Samuel Holt (aka The Huntsman).
Like The Huntsman, Connie’s character was pregnant with Situation. Itย was very easy to integrate Connie into the material I had preparedย in addition to her own struggles. Connie is a hi-tech wonder who served time for murdering her brother Antoine over the direction ofย their company Specter Industries. Connie’s been inside for 20 years.
At the beginning of the session, we talked about prison and I readย the obligations that a returning citizen has when leaving prisonย with regards to their parole officer (I attached a PDF listing these). We didn’t do this for Jamesย since he is actually the one who provided me with this document. Butย it was good way to ease into play as it really gave us a sense ofย what it might be like to get out of prison after a long stretch andย then become obligated to a person who could send you back at a whimย if you step out of line.
Connie ended up being very similar to an NPC I rolled up calledย Mecano. They are both hi-tech wonders with a low Endurance score, soย they require their technology to function. In Connie’s case, it isย her SP3CTR suit that gives her power. Mecano is a hodge-podge ofย better living through chemistry and cybernetics.ย Mecano is aroundย 100 years old.
Connie’s contacts include Jill Damerov, who is part of a Russianย crime family. I integrated this family into the crime infrastructureย on inside and outside of Ryker’s Island. The Damerovs have historyย with Mecano’s prison gang The Furies.
Mecano (aka Sandro Fenucci) is an Italian immigrant who fought on theย side of the fascists in WWII. He came to America after the war and hadย difficulties integrating into society so he turned to a life of crime.
He had no connection to the Italian mafia in New York City at the timeย and his fascist involvement wasn’t an asset in this regard. The Furiesย started as a prison gang during his first sentence in Ryker’s. Overย the decades, Mecano has come to think of Ryker’s as his house andย himself as the master of that house. His gangย has been the house gangย of the prison for long periods. They were recently displaced by Theย Young Blades.ย Mecano is currently on the outside and trying to reclaimย control of the prison.
The Damerov family was on the other side of WWII. Eli Damerov is theย grand-uncle of Connie’s contact Jill Damerov. Eli, now deceased, hadย bad blood with Mecano due to their connection to the war and theirย competing criminal interests in NYC and Ryker’s. The Damerov familyย is still cold to Mecano and his gang although Mecano sees anย opportunity to make things right with the family in the interest ofย having an ally in the conquest of the prison. The new Damerovย patriarch is Eli’s son Boris. Connie’s friend Jill is an ambitiousย up and comer in the gang. Jill protected Connie in prison (and Connieย also worked for the Damerov’s as a human hard-drive).
So this background brings us to the first scene, where we have Mecanoย showing up in his limousine toย intercept Connie as she is beingย released from prison. Mecano wants to make an ally of Connie due toย her abilities, her associations with the Damerov family, and theirย shared physical condition (low Endurance). They discuss things andย come to an arrangement. Mecano will provide a research facility forย Connie and help to take revenge on Specter Industries, who are aย service provider at the prison and one of the factions that Mecanoย wants out of his “house”.ย
This brings us to the other factions in the corrupt prisonย infrastructure. Specter Industries outfits the prison guards withย their equipment and they have some connections to the prison guard’sย union. Checkmateย Industries is the other big company that providesย services for the prison. It is run by a former villain named Peterย King (aka The Grandmaster), who is known for his death traps. He is aย former inmate who served in Ryker’s but went straight and started hisย own company. They provide the control collars for the supersย servingย in Ryker’s (and possibly some other unspecified services in the prison).ย They also run the Enhanced Rehabitation program that Ramirez (fromย session one) is a part of. They recently acquired Damage Controlย (see session one for more details). Mecano sees Checkmate as aย threat as well.
With that information out of the way, we can focus on Connie. Sheย refuses Mecano’s ride and offer to stay at a hotel at his expense.ย Connie is fully aware that there are strings attached regardingย Mecano’s offer. Connie has already made little adjustments to theย arrangement to keep her own autonomy — she won’t take his ride, won’tย stay at his hotel, and later she decides to keep her storage spaceย around as a backup location for doing research.
She will take the bus to the last known address of her elderlyย parents Matthias and Jennifer Bleak. It is a very bad, poorย neighborhood in the city.
Connie arrives and is greeted by her family. She is surprised that heย is happy to see her (or awkwardlyย happy). Connie learns that herย parents separated recently in relation to the Connie’s return. Herย father is not doing well in life, and still working temporary hardย manual labor jobs at his advanced age like moving furniture. Theย apartment is ramshackle. Connie does bond with her father over theย situation and offers to help him. In the meantime, he offers to putย her up on the extra air mattress.
The next day (May 7th, 2022, a Saturday) Connie sets out to accomplishย a few things. She will first retrieve her SP3CTR suit. While we’re here,ย Noah suggests that this would be a great time for the “ghost” of herย dead brother Antoine to make an appearance. What a great idea!
Antoine inquires about what Connie is up to. Connie says she isย preparing to take revenge on Ed Kalmar (who owns Specter Industriesย and was at the center of the triangle that resulted in Connieย murdering Antoine). I wasn’t sure how to portray Antoine but I ranย with something between an Alzheimer’s patient andย a hologram. The ghostย isn’t always in the time frame as Connie and is in denial aboutย everything. The more Connie tries to drive home what happened, theย more distant Antoine becomes, eventually to disappearย completelyย like a glitchy hologram that just vanishes.
Connie grabs her suit and then sets about to buy a top of the lineย iPhone and a decent set of clothes. We tally this up to cost 16ย Resource points (13 for the phone, 3 for the cloths). Connie startedย with 20, so she nowย has 4 remaining.
Connie is quite a powerful character with a number of abilities inย the Incredible and Amazing range. Noahย rolled a Resources ofย Incredible, which is more than he wanted for Connie to have at theย outset. So instead of re-rolling, we decided that some portion ofย her resources would be locked up (in offshore accounts andย maybeย even some of that may be assets she is entitled to from Specterย Industries). We gave her an effective Resources of Excellent toย represent this. It bakes it some moreย Situation that can be pursuedย in play.
Connie uses the iPhone to make an appointment with her parole officerย The Silver Shield (see session one for more info about him). She makesย the obligatory jokes to the receptionist who answered the call and
learned that The Silver Shield does not have a sense of humor. Weย set the appoint for Monday, May 9th, 2pm.
When Connie was out and about during the day, I made a roll on myย random encounter table. The result is that one of Connie’s criminalย contacts will reach out to her to ask for a favor. This is obviouslyย Jill Damerov. A Russian man approaches Connie on her behalf and tellsย her to drop off a package at the docks later in the night. Connieย goes along.
At this point, Noah asks to make a Reason FEAT to determine what theย package is and where it might fit into Jill Damerov’s enterprise.ย The roll is successful. I just run with what is an obvious real worldย example — it is a bunch of fentanyl that is passing through theย United States to another destination through the port. Is this theย first case of a character in Marvel Super Heroes becoming a drug mule?ย I don’t know but I like this direction. You won’t see this is any MCU offering…
The package itself is awkward and barely fits in Connie’s backpackย along with the SP3CTR suit. Connieย decides to lay low in a movieย theatre near the docks until it is time to drop off the package. Theย packageย must be dropped in an oil drum within the security perimeter.
When it becomes time to execute the job, Connie goes to the location.ย She is suited up to take advantage of the powers provided by theย SP3CTR suit. She uses her leaping ability to jump onto a crane close to theย eventual drop-off point. We call for an Agility FEAT to make thisย manuever and it is successful.
Connie takes a survey of the environment, resulting in an Intuitionย FEAT. This fails. I apply a -1 CS to the next roll to reflect thatย she is clueless about the security layout. The next roll is Agilityย FEAT to sneak over to the oil drum. This roll also fails and sheย is caught under the spotlight and alarms are raised.
Connie adapts to the situation by phasing into one of the storageย containers. A power FEAT roll is made to also phase the backpack andย drug parcel. It is successful. She hides out until the commotion diesย down 20 minutes later.
Connie then tries to phase back out of the storage container. I callย for another power FEAT for this. She fails and the backpack becomesย stuck in the wall of the container, exposing her to detection whileย she tries to wrest it free. I call for an Agility FEAT to evadeย detection and it succeeds. From this point, she is able to drop theย package in the oil drum and get off the premises using her leapingย ability with one last successful Agility FEAT.
In the last scene, Connie calls Jill in prison to report the outcomeย of the job but also asks to not be given mook work. Jill is pleasedย that the job went off well and reminds Connie that a debt is stillย owed due to the protection in prison. She also concedes that Connie’sย skills could be better used and promises to offer her somethingย better next time.
Connie is awarded 30 Karma for “Commit Other Crime”. I doubled theย award for doing it creatively (as inย the rules). This was due to theย quick thinking with phasing into the storage container, which avertedย catastrophe with the guards. She started with 0 Karma and now has 30.
A few stray thoughts about this session…
As a GM I have been trying to train myself out of the mission basedย adventure structure thing that I am so used to. I was very carefulย in introducing Mecano to present it as a potential relationship andย not a series of missions followed by the eventual betrayal. Connieย might have rejected it from the outset, leading somewhere just asย interesting as going along with it.
The mission that came up from the random encounter roll was totallyย ad-lib. It was very fun for the both of us and it actually told meย some things about what Jill Damerov is up to and what her motives are.ย It added some action and Noah was able to flex Connie’s abilities inย a situation with potential consequences. It would have been veryย interesting if Connie had refused it as well. What would Jill do withย such a refusal due to the perceived debt she thinks she is owed? I want to try to avoid the mission structure thingย here too.
It is quite refreshing to run this game. It just rolls along. I haveย spent around 150 hours playing Burning Wheel since last summer. Theย scene planning and negotiation, the long discussions about Task,ย Intent, and Consequence from that game are starting to wear me down.ย Marvel Super Heroes Basic, on the other hand, has very fast resolutionย mechanics. It is also very clear how any character can affect the world
through their different abilities, powers, and talents. It’s a niceย change of pace for me.
6 responses to “Halfway Heroes – Session Two”
Excited for next issue
I don’t want to over-analyze this game (plenty of time for that after we have some serious playtime under our belts). I’ll just say that I am excited for Halfway Heroes as it emerges at the confluence of taking Ron’s “People & Play” course and reading the 1961 Fantastic Four for the first time. The former influence has given me new tools for thinking about my roleplaying, and I’m excited to put them into action. The latter has blown me away with its sense of roiling creative ferment, the feeling that anything can happen (and probably already is). I didn’t fully understand what the “Now” in Champions Now meant until, well, now.
Not much to say regarding procedures yet, except that Connie is actually the second character I rolled. For the first, I couldn’t seem to roll below 80 (I even ended up with 5 Powers and 5 Talents). I didn’t find the resulting spread of numbers/ranks very inspiring. So I started over, notably getting a “Feeble” on the Endurance roll and a “Typical” on one of the Alter Ego scores. A big part of the character clicked into place when I decided to shift the “Typical” result over to the Alter Ego’s Endurance — Connie’s SP3CTR suit raises her stamina to that of an average person, but only barely. Brief bursts of activity require rest in between, and she needs to be in her suit to exert any kind of extended physical effort (yes, inventing included). I thought there's a character I'm excited to play in crisis situations, and the rest of the process was very straightforward, even the decision that Connie served time for a murder she certainly did commit.
So … I always check first
David, would you like any thoughts & judgment at this time (or at all)? Based on a lot of superhero role-playing, referencing both MSH and Champions especially.
Yup, would love to hear your
Yup, would love to hear your thoughts.
Well, with every possible
Well, with every possible proviso that you can adjust and apply whatever you like, including none of it, here goes. You are getting very elaborate with the details, complications, and nuances of the NPCs and backstories.
I have often fallen into the trap of excited elaborations upon the situation, often far removed from the heroes. In my mind, the complications seemed so nicely tuned to "what would be perfect" for this or that hero, or so obviously right for a deeper matrix in which this or that hero was embedded. Bluntly, they weren't, and the problem wasn't the quality for any one thing, but their sheer quantity.
I wrote about it in two blog posts about a couple of games, in Time travel trippin' up and Going for baroque. Most of what I'd caution about, and why, is stated bluntly and completely in the second one.
Those two posts were helpful,
Those two posts were helpful, thanks! This is one part from the second post that really stuck out to me:
In terms of Execution, I think I was worried that there wouldn't be enough, especially when Noah joined the game between the first and second session. It started as a fun and inspiring GM activity to integrate his character into the prepared and established material but it became stressful at some point. That's probably a pretty good indicator that things have sprawled out of control and I fell into the trap of "more is not more". I was pretty excited about the possibilities of these two characters and got carried away. At one point, I even described them as not additive but multiplicative. That's probably another indicator of sprawl. The characters are very rich but the multiplicative stuff is in my mind in terms of plugging them into the matrix of other things in my mind.
The points about Medium are a good reminder of what we're doing. A lot of this prep is probably going to fall by the wayside but I was thinking of it terms of having more in my pocket to play with should the players become engaged in one thing or another. It is the buffet approach I guess.
In addition to that it also occurred to me when I was reading the two posts that the medium of superhero comics (and in particular the era MSH is based on and our group is interested in) takes a "less is more" approach. New characters are quite often introduced in terms of how they conflict with the hero and those scenes are played out and then it may be a long time before we see them again. Backstory considerations sometimes come out later when the writers want to develop those characters more.
I'd recently read a bunch of Cloak and Dagger and while they are introduced initially with a bit of backstory, just enough to shock and grab the reader, the elaborate details really come out when they are given their own mini-series. The backstory in their introduction is also specifically tied to what Spider-Man is trying to stop them from doing.
I can think of other things I have read recently where the villain just appears, with whatever their schtick and motives are, and it is basically all action from there. Then in the next issue another one appears and it is the same thing.
Of course I don't want to mix up our medium with the medium of superhero comics but these seem like pretty useful hints with regards to how much is enough when playing MSH.
I will put some thought into these two ideas:
Thanks again, I am trying a bunch of things I have never done before and also rejecting my old set of tools. So your perspective (and any other outside perspective) is really helpful to me.
Those are really good
Those are really good comments. It really speaks to me for prep in general. In the current Sorcerer game I play, I got real creative sparks by reading the character sheets, and at some point I was wondering if I had too much things going on.
I'm still trying to find a good intuitive balance – not really techniques but just safeguards or red flags. This is how I did by looking at the quantity of ideas I've scribbled in my not books: I made choices for one or two simple ideas that are needed to frame the first scenes. Then I considered all the other ideas as provisional. I see where those things are going after one or two sessions, as players react to them, NPCs react to them, and dice rolles outcome. I'm not playing to see every of my ideas into play, I'm playing to see which one of them I will need to strike in my notebook and which one will become played material in that list.